A God Who Gives

God is a giver.

• “For God so loved the world that He gives His only Son Jesus…”

GOD LOVES AND HE GAVE

God gives because He first loves. It is out of love for you that He gives.

• We can’t see love, but when God gives, we see it.

• You are loved, whether you know it or not. You are important to Him.

• Christmas reveals our value in the eyes of God.

God has given us in so many ways.

• Genesis 1 tells us God has given us a beautiful world.

• He made all things before He made man – He made the light, the water, the vegetation, and the animals.

• So that when man was created, he was placed in a world with everything he needs.

• God has given us air to breathe, the water to drink, animals and plants for food, and the fruits as dessert.

But it was not easy for God to give us Christmas.

• This world has turned against Him. We have sinned against God and rejected Him.

• It was not easy to love those who have turned their backs on you.

• It was not easy for Jesus. He would be despised, mocked and rejected.

• But He came. While we were yet sinners, Christ came and died for us.

God gave to the point where the need was met.

• What do we need? Not more wealth, more education, or more entertainment.

• The world needs a meaning and purpose to life, which is now destroyed by sin.

• We’ve sinned against God and fallen short of His glory and design.

• We need a Saviour, someone who would remove our sin and give us forgiveness.

And so God gave, to the point where our need can be met.

• Jesus was born to die for your sin and mine.

• The person who is mindful of your need is a person who loves you.

Do you know that you were on His mind when Christ was born?

• If you do not know Jesus today, God is still thinking about you.

• He is like the father of the prodigal son, still looking out for you.

• He wants to forgive you, and give you a meaningful life.

• You need to accept His love, and receive Christ as your Saviour today.

GOD GIVES AND HE SACRIFIED

God gave at a great sacrifice. That’s the price tag placed on your life!

How much are you worth? Look at Christmas.

• Jesus (the Bible says in Phil 2:6-7), “6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

• That’s how much you’re worth to Him. He dropped His coat of divinity and took on human flesh to meet up with you.

• Don’t cheapen your life today! You are worth more than you can really understand.

• When we treasure our life, we are giving due honour to its Maker, our God.

Phil 2:8 went on to say: 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!”

• Jesus Christ who is God became a man, and not only a man but a servant, and not only a servant, but one who is willing to die for our sin, and not only to die but to die a most humiliating and painful death on the cross.

• That’s the extent God is willing to sacrifice in order to save us and give us a hope.

• It’s easy for God to give us things. But at Christmas, God gave to the point of sacrificing His one and only Son, “as the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

WALK IS PART OF GIFT

Gerald Horton Bath tells about a missionary in Africa who was teaching his students about gift giving at Christmas. On Christmas morning one of the Africans brought the missionary a seashell of great beauty.

When asked where he had discovered such an extraordinary shell, he said he had walked many miles to a certain bay, the only spot where such shells could be found. It took him half a day to walk there.

The teacher thanked him and said, “It was wonderful of you to travel so far to get this lovely gift for me.”

The African responded: “Long walk, part of gift.”

You don’t have to say much, we know it is love when there is a sacrifice like this.

• Look at Christmas, and know God’s love for you.

• It cost God something to love you.

This is our God. God gives lovingly, and God gives sacrificially.